Longmont's Oskar Blues and Left Hand again crack BA's top 50 list

For the second consecutive year, Longmont's two craft breweries, Oskar Blues and Left Hand Brewing, both made it onto the Brewers Association's annual list of top 50 craft brewers.

The Boulder-based nonprofit formulates its list based on 2012 volume. Oskar Blues, which sold 85,750 barrels of beer in 2012, a 46 percent increase from the previous year, landed at No. 27 this year, up two slots from a year ago. Left Hand, which made the list for the first time last year, was at No. 43, up from No. 49. Left Hand produced 49,549 barrels in 2012, a 34.5 percent increase from 2011.

Other Colorado craft brewers making the list included Fort Collins-based New Belgium, which finished No. 3, and Odell's, also in Fort Collins, which was No. 33. Denver-based Breckenridge Brewing finished No. 41.

Three of those Colorado breweries also made it onto the BA's overall top 50 list, which includes global giants Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller: New Belgium was No. 8, Oskar Blues No. 36, and Odell's at No. 44.

In a press release, Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association, said that craft beers in 2012 surpassed 6 percent of the total U.S. beer market and that volume and dollar sales hit record levels.

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